a. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for facilitating the contact between solid particles and a fluid and particularly it relates to an apparatus for flowing a fluid parallel to a layer of packed solid particles which apparatus is suited for the desulfurization and/or removal of nitric oxide treatment of waste gases or the deionization treatment of waste waters.
B. Description of the Prior Art
As a process for bringing solid particles into contact with a fluid, a process of passing the fluid through a packed bed of solid particles has been popular. However, this process is disadvantageous in that, when the amount of the fluid to be treated is relatively large, it not only is attended with such troubles as occurrence of clogging in the packed bed, increase of the pressure drop, requirement for much feed pressure, extraordinary generation of heat and so forth, but also efficient replacement of solid particles is hampered so that it is not always profitable from the industrial point of view.
There is also known a process for flowing the fluid in parallel to a packed layer of solid particles wherein the packed layer of solid particles and the fluid passage layer are disposed alternately and in parallel to each other, as has been disclosed in British Patent Nos. 1,154,008 and 1,210,867. This process for making the fluid pass in parallel to the solid particles-packed layer is admittedly worthy of note as a process for effecting the contact between solid particles and a fluid, but it is not always satisfactory for practical use as there has not yet been developed any suitable apparatus effective and convenient for use in practicing said process industrially.
The reason is that, according to this process, it has so far been difficult to maintain a uniform bulk density of solid particles within the solid particles-packed layer which has an important influence upon the contacting efficiency, and further it has been not easy to perform the work of charging and replacing of the solid particles efficiently.